INVESTIGATION ON BIOSECURITY MEASURES AND TOOLS TO IMPROVE THEIR COMPLIANCE IN ITALIAN POULTRY FARMS

In poultry production, biosecurity is essential to prevent the entry of pathogens in/from poultry farms, as well as having a positive impact on animal health and welfare and a reduction in antibiotic use. However, even though the importance of implementing biosecurity measures (BMs) in poultry farms is well recognized, the appropriate BMs are not always complied with and implemented. Within the NetPoulSafe project (H2020, G.A. No. 101000728), an in-depth investigation and analysis of biosecurity compliance in European poultry production was carried out. As partner of this project, Italy collected and analyzed data on the implementation of BMs and supporting measures (e.g., videos, trainings, group discussions, coaching) to improve their compliance. Three questionnaires were administered to three different stakeholders (i.e., advisors, farmers, and operators) working within the following poultry production systems: broilers, free range broilers, layers, free range layers, turkeys, ducks, breeders. The questionnaire on BMs included 38 questions common to all the poultry productive categories with additional questions specific to the various productive categories; the questionnaire on supporting measures included 23 questions common to all the poultry productive categories. Between April and September 2021, advisors (n = 37), farmers (n = 30), and operators (n = 9) were interviewed. In detail, questionnaires were administered to farmers and advisors of conventional broiler (n = 13) and layer (n = 13), free range broiler (n = 8) and layer (n = 10), turkey (n = 13), duck (n = 3), and breeder (n = 7) farms, and to operators working in slaughterhouses (n = 2), hatcheries (n = 3), egg collection facilities (n = 2) and feed suppliers (n = 2). The answers obtained from the questionnaires were collected in a database and analyzed by descriptive statistics to assess the overall biosecurity level of implementation and to identify the supporting measures that could be helpful in improving biosecurity compliance. Overall, the frequency of BMs implementation was 70,46%, 81,00% and 83,91% according to the answers provided by the advisors, farmers, and operators, respectively. Considering only common questions to the three questionnaires, BMs always implemented were: absence of backyards on the site; delimitation of the farm area; wheels’ disinfection before entering the farm; use of dedicated clothes and shoes before entering the house; presence of a farm logbook; feed storage protection; pests’ control; presence of a rendering tank and a waste area; cleaning and disinfection of the house, materials, drinking water pipelines between cycles, and vehicles after transport; recording of birds’ daily health and production parameters. Regarding supporting BMs, biosecurity checks (audits) by government or by stakeholders (e.g., integration companies); regulations to set up supporting biosecurity implementation; support by a biosecurity advisor (e.g., coach /vet); direct (farm visiting) or distance support (by phone, email, etc.); coaching methods; information campaigns, conferences/webinars; farmers meetings and group discussions; exposure visits at well-organized farm/field trips, were considered as the most successful by the stakeholders. Findings of this study showed a good level of biosecurity compliance in Italian poultry farms; however, education and training of stakeholders seem to be still necessary to help improving biosecurity compliance.